Atlanta: a center of sexual exploitation?

J. Gerald Harris

Before forming 4Sarah, Inc., Kasey McClure made up to $2,000 a night as an Atlanta-area stripper. Her organization, named for her daughter, looks to show women the way out of exotic dancing, prostitution, and escort services.

The Atlanta Chamber of Commerce flies under the banner: “Bringing the best together to help Atlanta thrive.” However, the Chamber has to ignore the sinful sexual exploitation that marks our capital city in order to make such an inane statement.

Much of this sexual exploitation came to light in the recent public policy briefing held at the Georgia Baptist Mission and Ministry Center on July 14.

The Georgia Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Public Affairs Ministry, under the leadership of H. Ray Newman, hosted the meeting on sexual exploitation, pornography, and the adult entertainment industry.

One of the guest speakers for the meeting was Kasey McClure, a former stripper who is now the executive director of 4Sarah, Inc., a ministry whose mission is to empower change in the life direction of women who are adult entertainers, prostitutes, or escorts by offering a holistic approach as well as an educational, emotional, physical, and spiritual support system.

McClure testified that she came from a dysfunctional family. She stated, “My mother operated a bar and for me that kind of lifestyle was normal. I was sexually abused from the time I was three years old by my father.

“My father also abused Rachel, my older sister. Consequentially, by age 15 she was in the drug scene and pregnant by age 15. For the most part I was a good and compliant child, but by age 15 I hit the streets myself.

[At] 16 I got a job at Hooters, was hanging out at clubs and bars, and doing ecstasy (an illegal drug that has effects similar to those of hallucinogens and stimulants), crank (a slang word for a low purity, crystallized methamphetamine that is administered in powder form, a stimulant that works on the central nervous system), and cocaine.”

By the time Kasey was seventeen-years-old she decided to go back to school. Even though she had no support system she made A’s and became a cheerleader. Being void of a good influence in her life, she started working in bars and selling lingerie.

One night she went to the Gold Club to see her sister and was offered a job as an exotic dancer for $1,000 a night. Kasey remarked, “My sister warned me that if I started working as a stripper it would be hard to get out, but I took the job and was having all kinds of money falling in my lap – $600, $800, $1,000 at a clip.

“I wanted to save money, have a house of my own, a nice car, good credit, and all that soon became a reality. I had men taking me on expensive trips and showering me with gifts.”

However, Kasey’s grandmother died and suddenly she was confronted with a decision. She said, “It was hard to give her up. At the funeral they sang “Amazing Grace” and when they sang, ‘I once was lost’ I came under great conviction.

“At that time I was working at the Pink Pony, making $2,000 a night,” Kasey admitted, “but I hated my life. I wanted to change my life, but I was in bondage with the drugs, alcohol, attention, and most of all the money.

Kasey admitted, “In my search for a way out God sent a man into my life to help me gain the courage to walk away from that deadly lifestyle – a man who later became my husband. He invited me to go to his church where I was welcomed and accepted for who I was.

Kasey went back to the Pink Pony, packed up her belongings, and announced that she was quitting. One of the girls asked, “You are not coming back, are you?”

Eventually, Kasey went back, but only in obedience to the Lord’s leading and for the purpose of showing the women a way out of that bondage and lifestyle. One of her newest outreach ministries is to girls on Craig’s List. Kasey has formed a nonprofit organization named 4Sarah, Inc. The Christian ministry is named for Kasey’s daughter.

Now, Kasey unashamedly admits, “I am trusting Christ and following Him. I am going to the clubs and to jails to teach strippers, escorts, and prostitutes life skills.

J. Gerald Harris

Mary Frances Bowley, president of Wellspring Living, explained Atlanta’s prominence in less-than-stellar categories. Georgia’s capital has more strip clubs than Las Vegas, she said, and is among the top three cities in the country for child prostitution.

“I tell them that no man will be able to give them the love that Christ will provide. I want them to know that God is a forgiving God and He will accept them right where they are.”

Mary Frances Bowley, the president of Wellspring Living, also spoke to the public policy briefing. Wellspring Living provides a residential program in a restorative environment where both girls and women can receive hope and healing from childhood sexual abuse, forced prostitution, and other destructive behaviors.

Bowley explained that Atlanta has more strip clubs than Las Vegas, that Atlanta is among the top three cities in the United States for child prostitution, that 300 girls are raped for profit in Atlanta each month, that 129 girls are raped 10 to 15 times a day in Georgia’s capital city, and that on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday a girl is being raped (forced prostitution) every 54 seconds for profit.

Phil Burress, executive director and president of Citizens for Community Values, was the keynote speaker for the event and admitted that he had emerged from the life of a pornography addict. He declared, “We have up to 370,000 victims of human trafficking who are Americans. These poor people are without love and are victims of modern day slavery. We have become a profoundly exploitive culture – a society that chews people up and spits them out.

“You might wonder where all these people come from that would dare to pay to have sex with a child. They are coming from the epidemic of pornography. That epidemic is creating the demand.

“In 4 out of 5 cases when kids are missing it takes a week or more for the police to be notified. Theses kids are not run-away kids; they are throwaway kids. If kids are abused at home, they often become promiscuous. They are love-starved.

“Many of them are posting their loveless condition on MySpace or Facebook. They make contacts there and are offered love they are not getting at home. From that point the predators start the psychological manipulation followed by the personal contact, the alcohol and drugs, and then the sexual exploitation.”

Burress lives in Cincinnati, the hometown of Larry Flynt, one of America’s infamous pornographers. At one time Cincinnati had more porn stores than anywhere, but after his conversion Burress set out on a crusade to rid the city of its venues of sexual exploitation. Now he proclaims, “There are no strip bars and no adult stores within 35 miles of Cincinnati.”

What happened to cause the remarkable transformation in Cincinnati? And how can we make a difference in Georgia and Atlanta?

“It comes down to community activism,” Burress proclaimed.

Contact the GBC office of Ethics and Public Affairs at (770) 936-5314 for suggestions on launching a crusade against pornography and sexual exploitation.